air traffic
Authority: Defective file caused flight chaos in the USA
A major disruption had occurred at the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). photo
© Jacquelyn Martin/AP/dpa
Across the country, everything stood still for 90 minutes, and no plane was given permission to take off: A computer glitch paralyzed air traffic in the United States on Thursday. Now there is more information about the cause.
According to the US Air Traffic Control Authority (FAA), a defective file was the trigger for the flight chaos in the USA on Wednesday. So far, there have been no indications of a cyber attack, it said. Because of the computer glitch, planes were not allowed to take off on domestic routes for about 90 minutes on Wednesday morning. In total, more than 10,000 flights were delayed in the USA, and more than 1,300 were completely canceled.
It was the first such nationwide grounding since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York. One acted out of particular caution, said US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg with a view to the starting ban.
Criticism rained down, especially from the Republican camp. The FAA’s inability to keep a vital safety system operational is unacceptable and the latest example of incompetence within the Department of Transportation, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted.
In the face of problems with supply chains and constant flight cancellations, Buttigieg was overwhelmed by the post of Secretary of Transportation, Republican MP Andy Biggs criticized on Twitter.
In a statement, Senate Transportation Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, Democrat, wrote that an investigation would be carried out into what caused the outage. “The public needs a resilient transportation system,” Cantwell said.
Investigations continue
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also announced that it is continuing to investigate exactly how the incident could have happened. All necessary steps are taken to ensure that such a disturbance does not occur again.
On Tuesday evening (local time), a system that gives pilots safety-related information about upcoming flights collapsed due to the computer error. The FAA then issued a ground ban on Wednesday morning. The ban was lifted after the FAA said it fixed the glitch.
According to the FAA, air traffic had returned to normal on Thursday morning and there were no unusual disruptions. According to flightaware.com, around 11 a.m. local time in Washington, a good 1,000 flights were delayed and around 100 were cancelled. According to the FAA, there are around 45,000 flights on average in US airspace every day.